TRP: Goro and Morgan (Favor)
'LINA: ' Stoic Hall, Day 208. After his now-familiar ritual of peering in the windows to check the color of the pseudodragon on duty, Goro walked inside the mead hall and approached Wyn's table. He helped himself to the chair across from hers, sitting with arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. 'IZZY: ' She looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow in turn. 'LINA: ' "You sure I can't snap Blue's spine and blind her and toss her in my dungeon?" 'IZZY: ' "Well, I'd really prefer it if you didn't." 'LINA: ' Goro squinted. "Why, though?" 'IZZY: ' "You ever --." She stopped herself and shook her head, and closed her book. "Why am I asking, I know you don't have siblings. Here's the thing, sometimes you're stuck with people, and even when they're motherfuckers who do shit without you when you're meant to be working together, y'know, they're still your family. Or they're you. You know, it's complicated." She waved it off. "Point is, no, you can't give Blue a Renar Special, because then I'll probably have to send Green to get her back, and ooh, that'd be a bad fuckin' time, lemme tell ya." 'LINA: ' "God. You and Roddy, both. And Larkin, for that matter. Which brings me to my main point. I got a problem, now, which is that my beloved partner is fucking chomping at the bit to murder you. And by 'you' I mean 'all of you.' If it looks like a Morgan Wyn, she wants to kill it. Believe me, I tried to explain to her the practical issues with killing a Morgan Wyn. She's still out for blood. The fuck am I supposed to do about this, gorgeous?" 'IZZY: ' She clicked her tongue regretfully. "Y'know, Blue tried to win the little Basha over, but she just wasn't having it. I mean, if we could've kept a Basha to run Skyport, that would've been great. But goddamn, is that woman prickly. We told her what was gonna happen, doll. It's not our fault she didn't listen." 'LINA: ' Goro slouched a little and sighed. "Loyalty compels me to take her side, no matter how reasonable you are about it, and no matter how much I didn't like the Basha. Ah well. I guess I'll just keep trying to hold her back, on account of the can't-kill-ya-anyway thing. So, what's next for the Sanguines? You going for the council?" 'IZZY: ' She shrugged and reached for her mead, swirling it in the glass. "It'll take a hot minute to get the underbelly secure. Clean up a little bit, y'know, get all our ducks in a row, hunt down the Basha loyalists. Then it's Freddy, yep." 'LINA: ' "You'll call me beforehand, right? Whichever one of you. Don't let me find out through the grapevine that Freddy's dead, you know what I'm saying? I gotta have a hand in it." 'IZZY: ' "Well." She took a drink, expression impassive. "I can't make promises on Blue's behalf anymore." 'LINA: ' "Anymore?" 'IZZY: ' She swirled her mead again, and glanced at the pseudodragon snoozing on the table. "Y'know, things get real fucking mixed up, sometimes, having four different sets of memories to keep track of," she said. "I think I told you, though, how I think I was the first, but I'm not sure. Yeah?" 'LINA: ' "Yup." 'IZZY: ' "Yeah, well, I had some outside influences on that. Sanguine Queen's red, this little bastard's red." She waved her fingers at the dragon. "And Blue always kind of deferred to me. We both thought I was the first. But seems like recent fuckin' events have made her decide that either I'm not, or it doesn't fucking matter." She shrugged and took another drink. "I'm not in control here, anymore, is what I'm saying." 'LINA: ' Goro nodded, and grinned crookedly. "I know what it is. They caught on to the fact you've had your heart stolen by a mysterious dark cleric. You've been emotionally compromised, so they decided to phase you out of authority. You think so?" 'IZZY: ' She snorted and pointed at him. "That's a good one. I like that one." 'LINA: ' He pointed back. "I thought you would." Then he dropped his hand and stared at the table for a while. "Hey, uh. I actually came here to ask you something. Something unrelated." 'IZZY: ' "Yeah, hit me. I got time." 'LINA: ' And boy, did he need time. He fiddled with the twine on his finger for a minute, eyes still on the table. It was fine. He could fucking back out, after this. It was only a single step, not a plunge. He still didn't meet her eyes. "You said once you could find out who my parents were, if I made it worth your while. How could I make it worth your while?" 'IZZY: ' "Oh." She studied him for a moment. "Y'know, what I could do -- is I could just find them, and then depending on who they are, how interesting they are -- then we decide what it's worth. I mean, if they're nobodies ..." She shrugged. "It's not really worth anything to me." 'LINA: ' Ah, jeez. That was two steps too many, too fast. It was fine. He wasn't fucking committing to anything yet. "Uh. Yeah, that uh, that makes sense. You wanna give me a price range, though? Supposing my mama's the former Prince of Skyport. How much would you charge?" 'IZZY: ' "Hmm." She mulled it over. "Well, I mean, shit, doll, in that case you might just become the next Prince instead of little Rina, huh?" She grinned. "Pretty sure I'd just extract some promises of loyalty from you and call it a freebie. Seriously, though." She shifted to lean her elbows on the table. "Chances are -- and I don't mean this to be fuckin' rude -- they're no one. They're not important except to you. And honestly, man, listen, I'm not that fucking interested in using your parents as leverage against you. Seems like something that'd damage this great friendship we've got going on. "Or maybe they're someone." She shrugged and leaned back. "And maybe I ask you real nicely, as a friend, to keep your Graverunner buds off my back and out of Sienna Springs. I don't need gold, you get that? I trade in favors." 'LINA: ' "I don't understand your system, really. Once you find out who they are, the hard work on your part is done. And they'd be harder to track down if they were nobodies, wouldn't you think? If I'm hearing you right--and maybe I got this backwards--if you find my parents, and they're no one special, you'll just tell me for free. Is that right?" 'IZZY: ' She spread her hands. "Favor to a friend, doll." 'LINA: ' "But if they're somebody important, you'll want a favor back. Yeah?" 'IZZY: ' "You got it. See, if they're important, you're important," she said, pointing between imaginary parents on either of Goro's sides, then to him. "And if you claim that importance, you become more valuable. You don't get to increase in value for nothing." 'LINA: ' "Ah, I getcha, I getcha." He nodded down at his hands, clasped together tight. "Sorry. Little slow on the uptake sometimes, like I said." His feet were tapping nervously. 'IZZY: ' She gave him another long look. "They don't have to be a package deal. Could be one at a time." 'LINA: ' He shook his head before he even thought about it. Would that be better, though? Jeez, which one would he want to start with? He wished he had someone to fucking ask about this, get some advice. Well, Hansel at least knew what it was like to suddenly find out who your dad was, and have it be something fucking upsetting. Damn. What if it was so bad, for whatever reason, that Goro ended up wishing he'd never found out? Maybe... maybe he could get someone else, like Hansel, to talk to Wyn first and hear the details. Give Goro some kind of heads up on whether it was something he'd want to know. Yeah, no, he didn't want to have to fucking go through this twice. "Uh." He cleared his throat and shook his head again. "Both at once. Both. Do it. I mean--will you do it? Go ahead." 'IZZY: ' "Yeah." She nodded. "Not a problem." 'LINA: ' "Hang on." Finally he looked up at her, and leaned forward, pointing. "I want you to promise me something, first. And it shouldn't be a hardship for you to keep, just a basic decency kinda thing. Favor to a friend. Don't fucking spring it on me. You know what I mean? I don't want to be fucking surprised by it. Few weeks ago some lady showed up at my goddamn door claiming she was my mother. That fucked me up real bad. I don't wanna go through that again, not even if it's the real deal. I want some warning. I want a chance to change my mind. You get what I'm saying? Can you do that?" 'IZZY: ' "Shit, Goro." Morgan winced. "Yeah, I wasn't planning on fucking springing it on you. It's not a birthday party -- hey, surprise, here's cake and presents." She paused, and thoughtfully added, "There could be cake, though." 'LINA: ' "Yeah, like I'm gonna feel like eating anything when I hear that news," he muttered. "Anyway. Thanks. Figured you'd understand. You don't seem to like surprises any more than I do." 'IZZY: ' "Eh, people who like surprises never had the pleasure of getting stabbed, or they'd change their minds." She waved it off. 'LINA: ' He gave her a genuine smile, relaxing a little. "I think we're kindred spirits, you and me. Anyway. Ah, let's see. You've... probably got all the ideas you need on finding leads, but for what it's worth, my mom was the human. Unless I managed to totally fucking remember that wrong, but I don't think so. I don't really remember what she looked like, though, besides that. You know, I've heard..." He tapped a finger underneath his eye, almost unconsciously. "I've heard we usually get our eyes from whichever parent was the elf. Dunno if that's true, though." 'IZZY: ' "Mm." She nodded, looking a bit distant. "Yeah, I've heard that too." Then she tapped the table for a moment. "Hey, for what it's worth -- not that I'm under the impression you'd go talking to Blue about it anyway -- but this is staying between us. If she's keeping shit from me, I'm keeping shit from her. You know she doesn't find you as fucking adorable as I do -- she'd wanna fuck you over. Just letting you know." 'LINA: ' Goro nodded, surprised but trying not to show it. "That's... good to know, actually. 'Preciate it." He felt a little uneasy now over the possibility of it getting back to Blue anyway--Fuck me over how?--but, shit, now that he'd actually made the request, going back on it was the last thing he wanted to do. "Did you know your parents?" he asked. "Just curious. Feel like every other thief I've known had some kinda fucked-up family life." He thought about adding You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but he was pretty fucking sure Morgan already knew that. 'IZZY: ' She shrugged, blank-faced for a moment. "I knew them." Then she scowled. "Eh, who gives a fuck. Yeah, once upon a time and all that, blah blah blah, pretend I'm being fucking cagey -- my mom used to be the governor of Sienna Springs, and my dad was the old guildmaster of the Sanguines. Neither of them wanted me, but my dad took me in and put me to work, anyway. I took over his guild and her city and they're not around anymore." She shrugged, and dropped the harsh tone, a bit. "Hopefully the whole 'having parents' thing turns out better for you." 'LINA: ' "Eh. I don't have high hopes, but we can dream, anyway." The way she'd said they're not around anymore made him wonder if she'd killed them. If the Sanguine Queen had made her kill them. He decided not to ask. "I think my mom might've loved me, but maybe she was just really good at faking it. I don't know. She did... mom shit. She held me, and sang to me. And I remember--I was usually the only one eating. She'd bring back food and give it all to me. At the time I guess I thought she ate before she got back, but maybe was just... giving it all to me." He shrugged. "She was probably just some fucking prostitute, or something, and she's probably dead. Don't think you'll turn up anything interesting." 'IZZY: ' "I mean, would you rather she was dead?" she asked, head tilted, then shrugged. "Eh, maybe that's a big question. Don't answer it." 'LINA: ' One corner of his mouth quirked up. "It is a big question. But I've already thought about it, and the answer's easy. If she's not dead, then what's her fucking excuse? She left me, and never bothered to find me again. I'd rather she loved me and died. And that's that." 'IZZY: ' "Well." She squinted up at the ceiling for a second. "That's fucking sad, but yeah, doll, understandable. Maybe ..." She looked back down. "I got nothing. Maybe there's a good excuse, but fuck knows what it'd be. Fingers crossed she's dead then, eh?" she said wryly, holding up crossed fingers. 'LINA: ' He snorted, and nodded, holding up his own crossed fingers. "Yup. Here's hoping." Then he shook his head and sighed, standing up and pushing his chair in. "Hey, uh. Morgan. Thanks. Let me know if there's anything I can do to make it up to you, alright? I mean, not something business related, just... as a friend. Favors, and all that." 'IZZY: ' She shrugged and picked her book back up. "Maybe it's payment for the backrub." 'LINA: ' He grinned. "I never got around to giving you a backrub, so I can only assume you meant the cuddling. You were into that, huh?" 'IZZY: ' "I more meant recompense for the fact that I just about shanked you," she said dryly. 'LINA: ' "Oh, psh, that was nothing. Lots of people have almost shanked me." Hm. This reminded him of trying to tell Hansel it was okay to punch him since lots of people had. He shrugged again, and waved. "Well, see you around, gorgeous." 'IZZY: ' She laughed. "Usually I fuckin' shank people for keeps, all right? I mean, is a fruit basket appropriate, here? Who knows." She flipped her book back open and lifted a hand. "Stay out of trouble, fucker." END Title: Favor. Summary: Goro goes to Red Wyn and asks her to track down his parents. She agrees, on the condition that she may extract payment for her work later. Category:Text Roleplay